


the truth about the moon

by scarlettroses



Category: Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Angst, Canon Era, M/M, Songfic, its based off of the truth about the moon (a cut song), lots of cute brother moments between davey and les
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-29
Updated: 2019-04-29
Packaged: 2020-02-09 15:19:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18640750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scarlettroses/pseuds/scarlettroses
Summary: after the failed attempt at a rally, davey finds himself wondering what he ever saw in jack kelly.(cross-posted from tumblr)





	the truth about the moon

Walking home from the rally, Davey finds himself staring up at the moon, just wondering.

He’s wondering what Pulitzer and his associates must’ve said to convince Jack to take their deal. They must’ve threatened him, held something over his head, to make him feel like he had no choice but to listen. They must’ve forced him somehow… right?

Or maybe he really _is_ just a traitor.

Davey’s hardly known the kid for a week— it’s awfully bold of him to make any kind of assumptions about his character. There’s as good a chance as any that Jack had simply wanted the money to get out of here, and he’d done what he had to in order to get it.

Davey takes a deep breath to center himself and keeps his eyes on the full moon, shining bright above him.

_Moon. A natural satellite of the earth. Latin name: Luna. Hundreds of thousands of miles away from here. No signs of water, or life, or atmosphere._

At least he knows that much is true. The facts are somewhat of a comfort to him— even though his entire world has been flipped upside down, he still knows the truth about things like the moon. Those don’t change, they’re black and white, like the ink and paper of a boldly printed headline.

Les is walking silently beside him, too shaken from the events of the rally to keep up with his usual chattering. Davey supposes he should try to comfort him, but he doesn’t really have the words.

Carefully, he wraps an arm around Les’s shoulders and holds him closer as they walk. Home is in sight, just a couple blocks away, but they’re taking their time to get there.

“Was Jack really gonna hit me, David?” asks Les, after a moment, breaking the silence. Davey’s heart immediately sinks to his stomach. “He put his arm up like he was gonna— but he _wouldn’t_ , right?”

Davey swallows thickly. He wishes he could answer with complete certainty, but he’s come to realize that he doesn’t actually know anything about Jack.

“I don’t think so,” he replies, his voice shaking much more than he’d like it to. “I sure hope not.”

They fall back into silence as they walk the rest of they way home.

Looking back up at the moon, Davey can’t think of another fact to calm him down. Not about the moon, not about Jack, not even about himself. It’s like every letter, every number, every _fact_ that he’s ever learned, has flown away and turned into a star in the night sky.

-

“Maybe you should sneak into bed with Sarah,” he whispers to Les, as they sneak in the door of their family’s apartment. Les looks like he’s about to say something in return, but Davey shakes his head. “No questions. Just go tell Ma and Pa that we’re home, and then climb into Sarah’s bed, please.”

Les, remarkably, does as he’s told. Sarah shares the bigger bedroom with their parents, an old bedsheet dividing the room down the middle to give her some privacy, as she says an older sister deserves. Davey and Les typically share the much smaller room across the hall— it’s not much bigger than a closet and has just enough space for their bed and a dresser. He feels a bit badly about kicking Les out, but he just _really_ needs to be alone right now.

He pauses to use the washbasin in the kitchen to clean his hands and face, but then heads quickly to his room and shuts the door behind him, leaning against it to catch his breath.

The mental image of Jack’s guilty, apologetic face is playing over and over in his head. He’d whispered “ _Davey_ …” like it meant something, like he could change what he’d done, simply by apologizing.

Davey presses the heels of his hands to his eyes and slides down the door so he can sit on the hard, wooden floorboards.

He’s not going to cry. Jack doesn’t deserve his tears.

Jack. That dreamer. That dime-novel cowboy, who can’t be bothered to care about anyone other than himself, and believes in some fantasy called Santa Fe. That boy who seems to charm everyone he meets just by smiling, even though there’s no real substance behind it. That boy who acts so high-and-mighty, only to turn around and stab everyone in the back.

Davey wants to curse himself for falling for Jack’s lies. If there’s anything he can consider to be a fact about that boy, it’s that he’s exceptionally good at what he does. He’s good at selling papers, and he’s even better at lying.

The first sob escapes Davey’s throat before he can stop it.

He thought he’d found a _friend_. For the first time, someone had taken an interest in him, and not just to make fun of him, like everyone at school. It had felt like Jack truly cared, and Davey can’t believe he was stupid enough to buy into it.

Everyone’s going to look to him for answers tomorrow. Jack is probably off on a train to New Mexico right now, with his newfound riches. Davey’s going to have to answer for Jack’s idiotic actions, but he has no idea what he’s going to say.

Maybe they don’t need him. Maybe they can still do this without their leader. Davey doesn’t know Racetrack all that well yet, but he seems to be the one in charge when Jack isn’t around— maybe he’ll have a plan.

Davey pulls his knees to his chest and sobs yet again. He can’t believe he let himself get so invested in one stupid boy, to the point that losing him feels like his heart has been ripped out of his chest.

He’s not sure how long he sits there crying for, but his head snaps up when he hears a timid knock on the door.

“David? Are you okay? Ma says I have to come get my pyjamas, ‘cause I got my clothes all dirty today and she doesn’t want me climbin’ in Sarah’s bed with ‘em on. Can I come in?”

Hurriedly, Davey wipes his eyes and stands up, trying to compose himself.

“Yeah,” he says, and his voice breaks in the middle of the word. He runs his hands through his hair as he tries to even out his breathing. “Just a second.”

Deep breath in, deep breath out. Everything is alright. No one got hurt tonight, at least not physically, and Davey needs to calm down. If not for himself, he can at least do it for Les’s sake. He doesn’t owe Jack Kelly another spare thought, let alone another tear. Jack doesn’t deserve any more of his time.

He opens the door, and his heart nearly splits in two, because Les is looking up at him with wet eyes and a wobbly frown.

“Hey,” he whispers, immediately opening his arms for a hug. “Come here. What’s the matter?”

Les sniffles, and Davey just wants to hug him until the end of time. He’s far too young to be dealing with these kinds of problems— this isn’t fair.

“I could hear you crying,” he mumbles, pressing his face into the checkered fabric of Davey’s shirt. “And when you’re sad, I’m sad, because I don’t like it when you’re upset.” He’s quiet for a moment, breathing heavily into his big brother’s chest, as Davey sits down on the bed and pulls him onto his lap. “I don’t wanna sleep with Sarah. I’m scared, and I wanna sleep with you. Please don’t make me leave, David.”

If there’s anything that can make Davey melt, it’s moments like this. Les is just so precious and _little_ , and Davey doesn’t want him to ever grow up, though it seems as if he’s matured tenfold in the past week.

“For sure,” replies Davey, brushing a hand through Les’s hair to get him to show his face. “I’m sorry I kicked you out before. I didn’t want you to see me all sad and crying. But hey,” he taps Les on the nose and manages a little smile, “I’m okay now. See? I cried it all out, and I’m just fine. How about we put our pyjamas on, and then you can pick any book off the dresser and we can have a bedtime story? Does that sound okay?”

Les nods wordlessly, some tears still rolling down his cheeks, and he pushes himself to his feet to get changed. Once they’re settled back into bed, he’s calmed right down and seems completely exhausted.

When Davey reaches out to take the book he’d chosen, Les shakes his head.

“I’m gonna read it to you tonight,” he says, before interrupting himself with a little, kitten-like yawn. “ _I’m_ not tired, but you did such a good job bein’ in charge today that you must be real sleepy from it, so I’ll do the reading and you can go to bed.”

Davey almost laughs, but keeps it contained so as to not upset Les by mocking his endearing attempt to help.

“Alright,” he replies, leaning back against the pillows and letting Les fall against his chest. “Which story are you gonna tell me?”

Les holds up the book with a grin.

“I picked the book about space, since I know you like it.” He opens it to the first page and begins to read, not even stumbling over the big words because of the sheer number of times they’ve read this together. “ _The moon is a natural satellite of the Earth. It is hundreds of thousands of miles away from here— two hundred and forty thousand, to be exact. There are no observed signs of water, life, or atmosphere…_ ”

Les continues to read, but he falls asleep before he reaches the end of the page. Davey slides the book out of his hands and sets it on the ground, before lying down and trying to fall asleep himself.

At least he knows for sure that some things are real— like the truth about the moon.

**Author's Note:**

> feedback is mucho appreciated friends!! also, i may or may not write a part 2 of this with jack’s apology, lmk if you want that!! :)


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